Hi, I found your dialogue while searching the internet trying to see whether anyone had previewed the movie and done any fact checking. I am not an Aggie, but am a brother in arms, having been in the USN for 4 years.
I have been studying the beginnings of the war in the Pacific theater, paying attention to the effects of intelligence on decision making. "Tora Tora Tora" appears to have made a fairly accurate portrayal of events. To a slightly lesser extent so did the 1976 version of "Midway", but it had to omit significant occurrences to keep the length reasonable. For example, that movie did not mention anything about the four torpedo equipped B-26 medium bombers that engaged the Japanese carriers early in the battle and what happened to them. The trailer for the 2019 version of "Midway" suggests to me that the Hollywood screenwriters have probably gotten outside the box like they did in "Pearl Harbor". One thing that one sees when there are a lot of computer generated images is that the aircraft motions are too rapid. Back in 1942, aircraft just were not that fast or agile.
In addition, Hollywood screenwriters tend to keep things overly simple and overly dramatic. One is left with the impression that Pearl Harbor was the low point and that Midway was a complete turning of the tide. The truth is it was a series of events over months rather than one big event. Screenwriters like to tout how many carriers get taken out, but what turned out to be more important in the long run was that Japan could not replace her experienced aircrews, whereas the US training program could replace ours. By the end of 1942, over half of the 900+ Japanese flight crewmen from the Pearl Harbor raid were dead and not replaced.
To put the Battle of Midway in perspective, here is a summary of what I have read happened in 1942. In February 1942 two US carriers attacked airfields in the Gilbert and Marshall islands, doing little damage, but it did surprise the Japanese that the US was able to go on the offensive so soon after Pearl Harbor. In March 1942, a coast watcher reported that the Japanese were constructing an airfield on Guadalcanal. In April 1942, Doolittle and 15 other aircrews attacked Japan in deck launched B-25 medium bombers. This caused the Japanese to react. The threefold Japanese plan was to 1. invade Port Moresby and use it as a forward base to bomb Australia, and 2. extend their control down the Solomon Island chain to cut the shipping lanes between the US and Australia using land based Japanese bombers, and 3. lure the US aircraft carriers into a trap and eliminate them. We don't talk about it much, but the Battle of the Coral Sea in May 1942, played a significant role in the outcome. The two US carriers caused the Port Moresby invasion force to turn back - this showed that the Japanese could be stopped, and the damage inflicted by US carriers prevented one of the Japanese carriers from being available for the Japanese attack on Midway. In the battle of Midway in June 1942, three US carriers sunk four Japanese carriers. One US carrier was lost. In early August 1942, US Marines invaded Guadalcanal and captured the airfield. After two more carrier battles - the Battle of the Eastern Solomons in late August 1942 and the Battle of Santa Cruz in October 1942 - the US was down to one operational but seriously damaged carrier in the Pacific theater (from October 26 to December 5). As a result, control for Guadalcanal and the sea around it and air over it was contested daily. These months were, in my opinion, the low point of the war. The tide turned in late December 1942 when the Japanese forces got orders to withdraw from Guadalcanal.
Thanks for letting me read and post.
Bluejacket